St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-18
A MYSTERY SOLVED.
The Sequel of a Recent Midnight Arr
rest--An Interesting Case.

T'he Sequel of u Recent Midnight Ar.
rest--An Interesting Case.
Sunday evening. March IS, hack was
driven up i'll front of the boarding house of
c. w Lasher, at s59 Tenth avenue south.
and Detective John Hoy with policeman
entered and announced that they had come
to arrest a Mrs. Cora A. Spencer upon a
warrant charging her With adultery. The
woman was not in the house at the time
out the officers insisted that she was, and
SAID they meant to get her and her child.
something of a row followed. during which
4 door was burst in and revolverS were
nourlShed. A Young man with
light brown mustache. who said his name
was Spencer was boosted over Il tranSom
ana found the child in bed with female
domestic with whom it had been left in
charge. AT this juncture Mrs. Spencer APP
peared and was arrested.
THE DETECTIVE TOOK HER
and her child to police headquarters, and
thence to the Nicollet house. where she was
locked up. The next day the detective
visited her and allowed the child TO wander
ont in the hall To play. He then turned
the key on the mother, and went away.
lie returned within an hour
and told the distressed woman that her
child had been lost" and that she was at
liberty to go where she pleased One or
TWO morning newspaper reporters. who were
about the Nicollet rotunda at , o'clock that
Sunday morning. and the sleepy night
clerk were the only spectators to the rather
unusual proceedings, and as the detective
was dumb as TO what all the fuss was
about the affair promised to remain mvs-
terry.
1t has since TRANSFERRED that the midnight
arrest of the lady, who, by the way is both
young and preposseSsing, and the loss of
her child was a part of an interesting do
meshc drama. Sept. 20, 1882, Edward
Spencer, a depot agent at Marshalltown,
Ia, was married to
A VILLAGE BELLE.
They lived happily together for many
months, and the wife learned to assist her
husband as telegraph operator. Gradually,
Mrs. Spencer claims the husband began a
course of cruelty and abuse which cullni-
mated in her leaving him i'll October. 1885.
with her child, which was then years OLD
She came to st. Paul and got employment
as telegraph operator, first at the mercan-
tile house of P. II. Kelly & Co., afterwards
al the Merchants hotel and finally at the
general office of the telegraph company
She formed the acquaintance of
Walter II. Ford. a train dispatcher
who showed her some attentions
of a friendly nature. The husband
at MarShaltown heard of it and his ieal-
Ousy was aroused. He came to ST. Paul
and made matters so unpleasant for the
wife that she disappeared. He also went
cunning for Ford, but the latter had nerve,
and. arming himself with Il revolver, gave
the husband such bluff that he aban-
dOned
HIS BLOOD-THIRSTY TACTICS.
BY the aid of st. Paul detectives Spencer
located his wife at White Bear lake and
compelled her to come to Minneapolis with
him, where they stopped at the st. James
hotel. Here he persuaded" her to return
to Marshalltown with him. They
stayed there but a short time,
and removed to Dodge, Nebraska.
where he went to work for railroad COM
pany. Their relations were not pleasant,
so the wife with her child again left. COM
ing to Minneapolis about six weeks ago.
Since then it appears Spencer has formed
determination to regain possession OF his
child. He came to Minneapolis and en-
gagged the services Of the detectives, who
located her whereabouts. He then went to
County Attorney Jamison, and by his state
ment of the case obtained a warrant charg-
ing his wife with adultery.
ARMED WITH THIS DOCUMENT
Spencer with the detective, went to the
boarding house and arrested the wife. She
was taken 10 the Nicollet house, where she
lost her child as described. 1t transpires,
however that the husband found it about
the same time and took it home with him
to Dodge, Neb. The sequel of the case is
that Mrs. Spencer has engaged an attorney,
Marcus P. Hayne, and is about to COM
mence legal proceedings in Nebraska for
divorce and the custody of her child In
the meantime she is supporting herself by
working as telegraph operator in St. Paul.
Those who know her state that she has con-
Quoted herself in an exemplary manner and
are loud in their denunciation of the per-
secution they consider she has been sub
iecIed to.